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  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay but you have to finish that thought, because you just said "handshape matters" like it's a throwaway and I don't think it is.

    TERRY: no it's huge. sooo, quick story. i mixed up "fine" with.. something a lot less appropriate, in front of teri. my own mom.

    JESS: your mom.

    TERRY: my mom. sixty-three years old, sitting at my kitchen table, and i sign what i think is "fine, i'm doing fine" and her eyebrows just go up to her hairline.

    JESS: what did you actually sign.

    TERRY: i'm not doing it on the podcast, jess.

    JESS: [laughing] fair.

    TERRY: but the point is, it was one letter of handshape off. same general area, wrong fingers, and suddenly i'm explaining anatomy to my mother at 63-year-old volume because she wants the full story now.

    JESS: so location and handshape both matter. i feel like people think asl is loose, like cursive, close enough counts.

    TERRY: it does not count. and honestly, you will embarrass yourself at some point. everybody does. i tell the class that week one so nobody's white-knuckling it, waiting to be the one who messes up. you're gonna mess up. it's part of the deal.

    JESS: okay so give me something useful out of that mess-up, though. something somebody listening right now, not in the class, could actually use.

    TERRY: yeah, sooo, here's a little thing. if you're not sure your handshape's right on a sign, slow down before you speed up. people think fast reads as fluent. it's backwards. fast and sloppy reads as lost. slow and clear reads as somebody who knows what they're doing, even if you only know four signs.

    JESS: slow is the tell.

    TERRY: slow is the tell. clear is the tell. and honestly if you slow down you catch your own mistakes half the time before anybody has to correct you at the table.

    JESS: i want the fine mishap in the syllabus somewhere.

    TERRY: it's basically load-bearing at this point. holland brings it up at dinner sometimes just to watch me wince.

    JESS: how is holland doing, by the way, is she still out-signing everybody.

    TERRY: oh she's relentless. she corrected my "milk" sign again last week, hand on her hip, very serious. she's six. i just take it now.

    JESS: kids don't have any ego about being wrong, that's the thing.

    TERRY: that's exactly the thing. adults show up to class and they want to get it right the first try or they clam up in the back and just watch. and i get it, but that's the slowest way to learn this. you gotta be willing to do it wrong in front of people a few times.

    JESS: which, side note, is literally how you run class. you make everyone do the sign wrong on purpose first.

    TERRY: heck yes. gets the fear out of the room in the first five minutes. once everybody's already been wrong together, nobody's precious about it anymore.

    JESS: so what's on deck for next week, because we ended session two kind of mid-air on the whole face thing.

    TERRY: yeah, we're picking that up. facial expression as grammar, not decoration. that's a whole session, i can't do it in a sentence. but next time is also fingerspelling — the actual mechanics, when to use it, when not to.

    JESS: you've been cagey about the alphabet this whole class.

    TERRY: on purpose. i think a lot of beginner classes dump the whole alphabet on day one like that's the win, and then people freeze up trying to spell every word instead of just learning to sign it. fingerspelling's a tool for names and gaps. it's not the goal.

    JESS: and you still can't read it back.

    TERRY: not to save my life. somebody spells at me fast, i'm gone by letter three. i own that fully, it's a running joke with kade now.

    JESS: good, keep the joke, bring it to class.

    TERRY: always do. alright, bathroom, help, wait, thank you, i'm sorry — that's the homework, get those solid before next week. and we'll build fingerspelling on top of it, slow, with real people in the room, not an app.

    JESS: love it. see everybody thursday.

    TERRY: ~terry 🤙

  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List ### ASL Basics for Everyday Use

    sooo the good news first: this class doesn't need much. asl is hands and a face, and you already brought both. what follows is just the stuff that makes practicing at home easier. nobody needs to buy everything on this list, and heck, half the "nice to have" column is stuff i added later just because it made my life easier, not because it's required.

    ---

    Budget Tier (what you actually need)

    A small notebook, dedicated to this class. Not your grocery-list notebook. Something just for signs, so you're not hunting through nine other lists. A $2 spiral one from the school supply aisle is fine. I still use one.

    A mirror, the one you already own. Bathroom mirror, closet door, whatever. You will practice in front of it and feel silly. That's normal. First sign I ever drilled solo in a mirror was "bathroom," and I looked like an idiot, and it worked.

    Willing hands nearby. A partner, a kid, a roommate, somebody to sign at during the week. This matters more than any product on this list. Language doesn't stick if it's just you and a wall.

    Comfortable clothes with sleeves you can push up. Sounds minor. It's not. You'll be using your hands and forearms a lot and bunchy sleeves get in the way fast.

    That's genuinely the floor. If all you bring week one is a notebook and a willing family member, you're set.

    ---

    Nice-to-Have Tier

    A three-ring binder instead of a notebook, if you're the type who likes handouts filed instead of loose in a stack. I'll hand out sheets most weeks and they hole-punch fine.

    Index cards for making your own flashcards of signs you're shaky on. Old school, works great, doesn't need charging.

    A phone with a decent camera, mainly for recording yourself signing back a sentence and checking your own hands after. Way more useful than any app for drilling vocab (more on that in class — short version, apps are fine for review, bad for learning something the first time. You need a human to catch your mistakes, the way a coworker caught mine on a sign I'd picked up wrong off some video years back).

    A small whiteboard, if you've got one kicking around the house. Some families use it for the "how do you sign ___" question that comes up at dinner. Cheaper than buying a book you'll flip through twice.

    A children's ASL picture book, if you've got little ones. Not required for the class, but it gives kids a reason to practice with you outside our sessions, and kids pick this up scary fast. Ask me week one, I've got a couple titles I like.

    ---

    Shopping Notes

    Nothing on this list needs a special trip. The notebook and index cards are a Macey's or Costco run, whatever you're already doing this week. Don't drive up the canyon for asl supplies, is what I'm saying.

    If you want a whiteboard or binder, check what's already in a junk drawer or a kid's old school stuff before buying new. I'd rather you spend money on gas to come to class than on supplies you don't need.

    One thing I'd skip: don't buy a full ASL dictionary or a big fingerspelling poster before week one. We'll get to fingerspelling, but it's a smaller piece of this than most beginner materials make it look. Useful first, pretty later. That's kind of the whole class.

    See you at the first session. Bring your hands and your face — turns out your face does more of the grammar than your hands do, but we'll get there.

    ~terry

  • HandoutASL Basics for Everyday Use

    ASL Basics for Everyday Use ## Handout 2: Quick-Reference Cheat Sheet

    sooo this is the one you tape to your fridge. it's not everything we cover, just the stuff you'll actually reach for. print it, fold it, keep it in the car if you want. that's what it's for.

    ---

    The Five You Learn First If you only remember five signs from this whole class, make it these. This is your "caught without a badge" kit.

    • Bathroom — fist, thumb between index and middle finger, little shake. Nobody wants to be caught not knowing this one.
    • Help — one fist on top of a flat palm, lift them together.
    • Wait — both hands up, fingers wiggling like you're stalling. Because you probably are.
    • Thank you — flat hand from your chin, out toward the person.
    • I'm sorry — fist circling on your chest.

    ---

    Everyday Basics - Yes — fist nodding like a little head. - No — index and middle finger snap shut against the thumb. - Please — flat hand circling on your chest. - More — fingertips tapping together, both hands. - Done / Finished — hands flip out and down, palms facing away. (This one doubles as "I'm ready to leave this party." Toni uses it on me constantly.) - Water — "W" handshape tapping your chin. - Milk — squeeze your fist open and closed, like milking a cow. Holland corrected my version of this at breakfast once, hands on hips, age six. She was right. Get used to that happening.

    ---

    Checking In On Someone This is the stuff I actually needed at work, before any of the rest of it.

    • Are you okay? — flat "OK" handshape, question look on your face (raised eyebrows, slight lean in).
    • Do you need a break? — sign "need," then "break" (index fingers, like a little pause between two flat hands).
    • What's wrong? — furrowed brow, palms up, small shrug.

    ---

    The Handshapes You'll Reuse Constantly - Flat hand — most polite phrases start here. - "OK" handshape — thumb and index finger touching, other three fingers up. - Fist — thank you, sorry, milk, more. - "W" handshape — water, and a few others we'll get to later.

    Handshape matters. Location matters. Get one wrong and you might sign something you didn't mean to — ask me sometime about the time I mixed up "fine" with something a lot less appropriate in front of my own mother. Learn from my mistake, not your own.

    ---

    Three Rules That Matter More Than Vocabulary

    1. Slow is faster. Rushed signs read as lost. Slow, clear signs read as fluent, even if you only know six of them.
    2. Your face is grammar. Not decoration — grammar. A flat face on a question just looks like a statement. Eyebrows up for questions, eyebrows down and slight head tilt for "wait, what?"
    3. Fingerspelling is a last resort, not a party trick. You'll spell names and gaps in your vocabulary. That's it. Reading it back is the hard part — I still can't do it past the third letter most days. Totally normal. Don't panic, just ask them to slow down or write it.

    ---

    One Honest Note None of this makes you fluent. It makes you useful. That's the whole goal of this handout — five minutes with it before you leave the house, and you've got enough to say good morning, ask if someone's okay, and not freeze up in a checkout line. 🤙

    ~terry

  • WorksheetHandout 3: Your Everyday Sign Checklist

    Handout 3: Your Everyday Sign Checklist

    sooo this one's just for you to fill in and keep — stick it on the fridge, in the car, wherever you'll actually see it. checking a box feels good and it's honest, way more honest than "yeah i think i've got that." if you can't check it, you don't have it yet, and that's fine.

    ---

    Part 1: The "Nobody Wants to Be Caught Not Knowing This" List

    Sign it three times right now, out loud description in your head, before you check the box.

    • [ ] bathroom
    • [ ] help
    • [ ] wait
    • [ ] thank you
    • [ ] i'm sorry
    • [ ] please
    • [ ] more
    • [ ] done / finished
    • [ ] yes / no
    • [ ] i love you

    If you only ever learn ten signs in your life, make it these. everything else is a bonus.

    ---

    Part 2: Small Talk Basics

    • [ ] hello
    • [ ] how are you
    • [ ] good / fine
    • [ ] my name is ___
    • [ ] nice to meet you
    • [ ] i understand
    • [ ] i don't understand
    • [ ] can you repeat that
    • [ ] slow down (this one you'll use on me, probably)

    ---

    Part 3: Fingerspell Your Own Name

    Write it here, letter by letter, slow:

    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

    • [ ] I can spell it without looking at my hand
    • [ ] I can spell it at a normal, calm speed (not fast — fast is not the goal)
    • [ ] I tried reading a partner's name back and .. how'd that go? circle one: great / rough / help

    no shame on rough. reading fingerspelling back is genuinely the hardest part of this whole thing and I still lose it around letter three sometimes. that's not a you problem.

    ---

    Part 4: Face Check

    Your face is doing grammar whether you mean it to or not. For each one, actually make the face while you sign it — don't just do the hands.

    • [ ] Ask a question with your eyebrows up (yes/no question face)
    • [ ] Ask a question with your eyebrows down and forward (who/what/where question face)
    • [ ] Sign "i'm sorry" and actually look sorry
    • [ ] Sign "wait" like you mean it, not like you're bored

    If this feels dumb or stiff, heck yes, that's normal too. it feels fake right up until it doesn't.

    ---

    Part 5: One Real Exchange

    Before next class, try one little real exchange with someone — a partner in class, a neighbor, whoever. Doesn't have to be a Deaf person, though if you get the chance, take it.

    What did you sign? _______________________________

    How'd it go? _______________________________

    ---

    A Reminder From Me

    Slow and clear beats fast and mushy every single time. If you rushed through any of these boxes just to check them, go back and do it slow once. That's the whole class in one sentence, honestly.

    ~terry

  • HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems

    Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems

    sooo you're going to mess this up a bunch in the beginning. that's not a warning, that's just what learning a language looks like. here's the stuff i see over and over in this class, and what actually fixes it.

    ---

    problem: you're signing too fast. this is the number one thing. you learn three signs and suddenly you want to prove you're fluent, so you blur through them. fast and mushy reads as lost. clear and slow reads as fluent, even if you're a total beginner. slow down more than feels natural. then slow down again.

    problem: your face is doing nothing. your hands are moving and your face is just.. sitting there. flat. i get it, keeping a poker face feels normal to us. but your face is grammar in this language. eyebrows up for a question, eyebrows down for a "wait, what?", the tilt of your head — that's not decoration, that's part of the sentence. practice in the mirror even though it feels dumb. everybody feels dumb doing it.

    problem: you froze because you don't know the sign. fingerspell it. that's what fingerspelling is actually for — not showing off the alphabet, just filling a gap or spelling a name. don't stand there blank. spell it slow, letter by letter, and keep going.

    problem: you tried to read fingerspelling back and panicked. heck, same. i can produce fingerspelling fine, but someone spelling AT me at any real speed and i'm gone by the third letter. this is normal. don't build your confidence around reading it fast. build it around asking someone to slow down or spell again, which is a totally normal thing to ask for.

    problem: you learned a sign from a video and it feels off. apps and videos are fine for review once you know a sign. they're bad for learning a sign fresh, because you've got nobody there to correct you. i picked up a regional sign off a fast video once and was doing it wrong for weeks until a coworker gently fixed it. learn new signs with a person in the room when you can.

    problem: handshape or location is slightly off and it means something else entirely. this happens to everyone. i once mixed up "fine" and something a lot less polite in front of my own parent. handshape and location both matter — same rough movement in the wrong spot can mean something completely different. if you're not sure, ask, don't guess loud.

    problem: you're hiding in the back not practicing. i see you. the fix is just doing it wrong on purpose once, out loud, with a partner, so the fear's gone. get it wrong fast and cheap early instead of quiet and scared the whole class.

    problem: you're only learning "impressive" signs instead of useful ones. knowing the whole alphabet cold but freezing on "bathroom" or "i'm sorry" is backwards. useful first, impressive later. if you only remember five signs from this whole class, make them bathroom, help, wait, thank you, and i'm sorry.

    problem: kids in your house are picking this up faster than you. they will. my six year old corrected my sign for "milk" at breakfast, hands on her hips, completely right. just get over being wrong in front of a kid. it happens to all of us.

    problem: you're not sure if what you're doing is "deaf culture" or just made up. good instinct to check. this class gives you a practical starting point, not the full picture. for real conversations, formal settings, or just going deeper, find Deaf instructors and community classes. i'll always point you that direction when it matters.

    ---

    that's the list. none of this means you're bad at it. it means you're doing it.

    ~terry

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay but you can't just tell them "your face is grammar" and then not explain what that means, people are gonna picture, like, jazz hands.

    TERRY: no it's true though. sooo here's the thing. your eyebrows go up, that's a question. they go down, that's a statement. it's not decoration, it's the sentence.

    JESS: see when you say it like that it makes sense. when you just blurt "your face is grammar" it sounds like a fortune cookie.

    TERRY: fair. fair. okay, hi, sorry, we're just gonna start mid-argument apparently.

    JESS: this is episode one of the podcast for ASL Basics, everybody. i'm jess, i produce these for community ed. terry's the instructor.

    TERRY: heck yes. hi.

    JESS: so give people the real pitch. why should somebody who's never signed a day in their life show up to your class instead of just downloading an app.

    TERRY: sooo. apps are fine for review. i'll say that. but i actually picked up a wrong sign off a fast video once, didn't even know it, and a coworker who's deaf had to gently fix me later. nobody catches that stuff when it's just you and a screen. having a real person in the room who can go "no, other hand" — that's the whole ballgame.

    JESS: was that embarrassing? getting corrected?

    TERRY: little bit. but that's kind of the whole class, honestly. you're gonna be wrong a bunch. my six year old corrected my sign for milk at breakfast once, hands on her hips, dead serious. she was right too.

    JESS: brutal.

    TERRY: brutal. but that's the deal. kids pick this up scary fast and adults just gotta get over being wrong in front of people.

    JESS: okay give me one thing. somebody's driving right now, not taking the class, what can they walk away with from this episode alone.

    TERRY: go slow.

    JESS: that's it?

    TERRY: that's it. rushing your signs is the number one beginner tell. if you go slow and clear it reads as fluent even if you only know five signs. if you go fast and mushy it reads as lost, even if you know fifty.

    JESS: huh.

    TERRY: everybody wants to rush because they feel awkward. don't. slow is faster, weirdly.

    JESS: okay i like that, that's usable. what's the actual first sign you teach people, day one.

    TERRY: bathroom.

    JESS: (laughing) of course it is.

    TERRY: no listen. first sign i ever learned on purpose, i had a kid at work who needed it and i just stood there blank. useless. went home and drilled it in the mirror like an idiot that night. nobody wants to be the guy who doesn't know bathroom.

    JESS: so useful over impressive.

    TERRY: every time. i'd rather you nail bathroom, help, wait, thank you, i'm sorry, and freeze on nothing, than know the whole alphabet cold and still panic in a real conversation.

    JESS: speaking of the alphabet, are we doing fingerspelling day one?

    TERRY: nope. and people fight me on this every session.

    JESS: why fight it though, isn't that the class everybody pictures? the alphabet?

    TERRY: it's a tool, not the goal. you'll spell your name, you'll spell a gap when you don't know a sign yet. that's basically it. and reading it back is way harder than doing it, nobody warns people about that part. i still can't read fingerspelling at any real speed, i'll be honest with the class about that day one.

    JESS: wait, you teach it and you can't read it?

    TERRY: producing it, fine. someone spelling AT me fast, i'm gone by the third letter. totally normal. i tell people that up front so they don't feel dumb when it happens to them too.

    JESS: okay so next session, what are we actually doing.

    TERRY: next time we get hands moving. bathroom, help, wait, thank you, sorry — the five i actually think you need to survive a normal week. and we do the thing where everybody does the sign wrong on purpose first.

    JESS: wrong on purpose, why.

    TERRY: gets the fear out of the room fast. once you've done it wrong on purpose and nobody died, doing it wrong by accident isn't scary anymore.

    JESS: that's very "porch, not lecture" of you.

    TERRY: that's the whole class honestly. started on my actual porch a couple years back, three neighbors, no plan, just vibes. went ninety minutes, nobody left. this is just that, with a room number now.

    JESS: alright. bathroom, help, wait, thank you, sorry. next session. people can find the room and time on the community ed page.

    TERRY: heck yes. come slow, come wrong, it's fine.

    JESS: ~terry, everybody.

    TERRY: (laughing) don't do that on the podcast.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —so he's just standing at his own checkout, hands full of groceries, no idea what he actually said.

    TERRY: yeah, this is a real thing that happened to me, this isn't a bit.

    JESS: okay wait, back up, tell it from the top for people who weren't listening last week.

    TERRY: sooo. costco. it's a saturday, place is a zoo, and there's a guy in line ahead of me who's deaf, and he waves me to go first because my cart's basically two items and his is a whole flatbed situation.

    JESS: kind of the costco version of "you go, you only have that one thing."

    TERRY: exactly that energy. and instead of just nodding like a normal person i sign "thank you" at him. which, we learned that one week one, super basic.

    JESS: right, the class staple.

    TERRY: and he signs back, and then we're just.. talking. ten seconds, maybe. nothing deep. i think it was like "you're welcome" and something about the line being long.

    JESS: a whole little exchange.

    TERRY: a whole little exchange, in a costco checkout line, in american fork. and i floated out to my car. i mean floated. i had samosas i don't even remember buying.

    JESS: [laughs] okay that's a good one. that's new, right, i haven't heard that one on the podcast before.

    TERRY: yeah i've been saving it. it's a good one for week two because it's not some big moment, it's tiny. that's kind of the whole pitch of this class honestly. you don't need fluency to have a little human moment with somebody. you need like four signs and the guts to use them.

    JESS: which is a good segue into what people are actually gonna use this week, because last time we did the real basics — bathroom, help, wait —

    TERRY: the essentials.

    JESS: the essentials. what's the practical thing this week, for someone who isn't even in the class, just listening.

    TERRY: okay so here's the thing i tell everybody and nobody believes me until they try it. slow down. like, way more than feels natural.

    JESS: because we all wanna rush it.

    TERRY: everybody rushes it, that's the number one beginner tell. you do a sign fast and mushy and it reads as lost, like you're guessing. you do the exact same sign slow and clear and it reads as fluent, even if you only know four signs total.

    JESS: so slow actually looks more confident.

    TERRY: way more confident. it's the same as talking, honestly. somebody mumbling fast sounds nervous. somebody talking slow and clear sounds like they know what they're doing even if they don't.

    JESS: that's a genuinely useful tip for somebody who's never gonna set foot in your class.

    TERRY: heck yes. that's free. you don't need me for that one, just.. slow down whatever little bit you already know.

    JESS: okay and the face thing, are we talking about the face thing today or is that a different episode.

    TERRY: oh we gotta touch it because it connects. your face is doing grammar, not just decoration. so if you slow your hands down but your face is still blank, it kind of cancels out. people want to keep this poker face, i don't know why, and it kills the whole sentence.

    JESS: you've said this is basically your one obsession.

    TERRY: mildly obsessed, yeah. eyebrows up for a question, little head tilt, mouth doing something. it's not extra. it's the sentence.

    JESS: okay, real talk though, do you nail this every time.

    TERRY: no. if i think about it too hard i get stiff, like i'm performing it on command instead of just doing it. in the moment, with a real person, it comes out fine. cold, in front of a class, i go a little wooden. i own that.

    JESS: fair. alright so for people coming to session three, what's on deck.

    TERRY: sooo, next time we're doing family signs and basic feelings — happy, sad, tired, that kind of thing — and we're gonna do the thing where everybody gets paired up and just has a dumb little conversation with strangers about their day, badly, on purpose.

    JESS: badly on purpose is very on brand for you.

    TERRY: gotta do it wrong once so you lose the fear of it. works every time.

    JESS: alright, that's session three. see people on the porch.

    TERRY: literally might actually be my porch if the classroom's booked again, so.

    JESS: [laughs] we'll let people know. ~terry, out.

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